That I will do. I thought about picking up a spokeshave from Harbor Freight (cheap), but a spokeshave's gonna be handy to have around for a long time... and I'd like it to last that long, too. Besides, there's something about hand-me-down hand tools that appeal to me. Taking a quick gander at eBay shows that a used one isn't going to run much more than HF, so I may as well go that route.

I've actually never used (or seen, for that matter) a spokeshave before. I ended up using my pocket knife in a similar fashion, though... gripping the handle and the end of the blade, keeping the soft bits of my fingers away from the edge. After a bit of thinking, I figured fixing a handle on both sides would make sense. Sure 'nough, somebody already figured that, hundreds of years ago ;oD.

Thanks for the advice!

: Your paddle looks good. I would recommend that you spend a little
: time on ebay and look for an old Stanley spokeshave No. 151 with
: a flat sole. You can usually get one for under $10. Then spend a
: little time honing the blade and flattening the sole. Like
: yourself I have only made one GP, and I used an inexpensive
: piece of rough 2x4 WRC from Lowes for my blank. The paddle
: itself was carved with several hand planes, but I found the
: spokeshave the most useful tool for shaping the paddle. My next
: choice would be a good block plane. In fact, I would say that I
: was not very good with the spokeshave until I tried to make a
: paddle and then my skills went way up.